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Spirit Airlines to add daily Detroit-Minneapolis flight

Spirit Airlines joined the growing list of air companies adding flights at Detroit Metropolitan Airport by announcing it will offer a daily nonstop flight between Detroit and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport from May 22 to Nov. 1.

Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit will be the second carrier to offer service between Detroit and Minneapolis after Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines had been the only carrier in that market for more than a decade, said Michael Conway, DTW's director of public affairs.

"We've had a good week; we're kind of on a roll for new air service," said Conway.

This week, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines announced it will become the second new carrier to add service this year at Detroit Metro, with a nonstop daily flight between Detroit and Seattle starting Sept. 4. New York-based JetBlue Airways Corp. announced in October that it will offer three flights a day from Detroit to Boston starting March 10.

Other new flights have been announced recently. Denver-based Frontier Airlines will offer a flight from Detroit to Wilmington, Del., starting April 29, and Delta will offer a second daily flight to London starting June 1.

Conway said the addition of new flights and new carriers could stimulate the local economy.

"Any time we get new air service, it typically means the airlines will hire more employees," he said.

That also means more customers coming to the airport and spending more money, which generates more business and can lower costs to airlines, said Conway.

The route between Minneapolis and Detroit is one of several seasonal services Spirit will introduce this year prior to the summer travel season out of Minneapolis and Chicago O'Hare International Airport, according to a news release from the airlines.